Heartbeat
by AweshumFace
Summary: When Jess decides to try something one night with Nick, things ultimately change between them, and neither of them can go back. Rated T for language, and some other stuff.
1. Chapter 1

**Here is a crappy New Girl one-shot (May continue it if I have any good ideas of what to have happen afterwards). I hope you enjoy. **

**BTW I do not own New Girl, and I don't own any of the characters that come from the series. I basically don't own anything New Girl except for this story. **

Jess awoke, blinking her eyes sleepily. She glanced around, trying to find her clock, so she could check what time it was. Oddly, she couldn't see anything- it was pitch dark except for a pale light emitting from the window.

For a few moments, she was alarmed, trying to figure out where she was, but when she looked behind her and saw the pale light coming from the window near the table, she figured out where she was.

Sleeping on the couch in the TV room.

The world was completely silent, and the only noise was the faint sound of cars outside, as well as Jess's own breathing and heartbeat, as well as the sound of...

The noise of somebody else breathing.

At that moment, she also felt something lightly touch her side.

Jumping, she accidentally fell off the couch, just barely managing to break her fall to stop herself from making a loud THUD which would probably wake the guy sleeping quietly next to her.

It took her a while to remember what had happened before she had fallen asleep.

Although she had managed to hold her tears for an entire day after what had happened with Paul at Schmidt's holiday office party, once night came, she had a breakdown, and ended up sitting in front of the TV on the couch with Nick, who spent about three hours comforting her and listening to her sob and talk about it.

After that, as it seems, she most have drifted off, and Nick must've also drifted off. She couldn't remember who fell asleep first, her or Nick. Putting a little bit of thinking power into it, she soon discerned that it was her that had fallen asleep first, and then at some point after that, he must have fallen asleep too.

In any case, she climbed back onto the couch as silently as possible, and then looked at Nick's face, recalling what Cece had told her that one time she had stayed over. _He's way into you, _she had said, with her signature All knowing tone and face to match.

Although at that time, Jess had insisted she didn't like him back, she realized her feelings had changed since then, and now.. Well...

She looked away from Nick, her face growing hot.

Jess really had no idea what she felt for Nick anymore. It was all in a jumble, like that weird yet pretty blob of a clay craft with toothpicks, paper clips and other odd things sticking out of it that a student had gifted to her. She still had that sitting on her desk at school. One of these days she needed to bring it home and show the guys.

Laying further back on the couch, she thought about everything that had happened with Nick since she'd first come here.

That one time she had to pretend to be his girlfriend when they went to that wedding.

And then there was the time she accidentally walked in on him dancing naked (Eep!) to Jamaican music.

There was also that time she went to the drugstore with him, and then ended up running out of the car with toilet paper (She did actually use toilet paper).

And then there was also that other time.. Jess shut her eyes and continued to reflect upon all the good (and sorta bad) times with Nick.

She still couldn't tell if she loved him or not. She slapped herself in the face and then mentally told her brain to work.

Anyway, she looked back at Nick's face, and couldn't help but just want to get a bit closer. She carefully crawled across the couch, trying her best not to accidentally nudge Nick and wake him up. That would be bad, and he would for sure freak out at her getting too close to him.

Jess continued to crawl until she was up near Nick's upper half, and then she stretched out her hand, touching his nose. Okay, that wasn't what she wanted to touch. If he woke up right now..

She didn't want to imagine how she could explain to Nick why her hand was on his nose. Jess had never been a good liar.

She moved her hand right over to his jawbone, and she ran her hand down it. Her heart was pounding, and she mentally scolded it teacher style for pounding so loudly.

Removing her hand slightly, she hesitated for a few moments, listening to the sound of her own heartbeat and Nick's breathing. Any moment now, she expected to hear Nick's voice ask her what the bleep she was doing.

Jess brushed a finger across his lips, taking in the warmness and softness of them. Blushing, she retreated her hand.

Although that was all she planned on doing, she found herself still staring at his lips. It wouldn't hurt if she just gave him a little kiss, would it? It wasn't like he'd notice. At least she hoped. From what she knew, he was a sorta deepish sleeper, so he probably wouldn't wake up, and so he would never know unless he had psychic powers or something.

Taking a small deep breath, she slowly lowered her head, and then allowed her lips to meet Nick's. There was no way Jess could describe how they felt. It wasn't too long or too short of a kiss, only about 15 seconds of pure bliss.

Quickly ending the kiss before Nick woke up, she simply took in deep breaths of air, trying to calm her heart which was pounding about a gazillion miles an hour. She was about to crawl back to her spot on the sofa, when a voice stopped her.

"Jess..?"

* * *

><p>Nick had actually awoken just a little before Jess. He probably would have fallen back asleep had it not been for the stupid TV, which they had forgotten to turn off, thanks to Jess's breakdown.<p>

After having turned the TV off, Nick was about to drift off to dreamworld when he heard the noise of someone moving.

At that point, he had figured it was just Jess moving in her sleep or something, nothing big. He didn't think she was awake.

But then he suddenly heard Jess moving towards him on the couch, and he knew it was her because he could smell her perfume, which by the way smelled pretty darn good. What happened next surprised him: She leaned over him (This, he could tell because he could feel her hair tickling his face), and then she (disappointingly) touched his nose.

Really? His nose?

If she was gonna touch his face, did he have to touch his nose, of all the things? It wasn't romantic at all.

_Dammit, Jess, thanks for leading me on, when I finally think you love me back... _

Well, he supposed it was better than her accidentally poking his eye. He hoped the only reason she was touching his nose was because she couldn't see any other part of his face, since it was dark after all.

Luckily, it seemed that was the case, because next, he felt her hand touch his jawbone. That touch made him melt into a puddle.

Although he had a strong urge to stop pretending to be asleep and to reach up and kiss her, he avoided doing so, in fear she might stop doing what she was doing.

Heart racing, he waited to see what she did next.

He felt her finger brush his lips. He was really glad it was dark, because otherwise Jess would've seen him blushing his face off.

He barely had time to recover from that when he felt her lips on his.

Oh. My. God.

He couldn't think at all during the kiss, just completely absorbed by it.

This had to be a dream. There was no way she was actually doing this.

It ended all too soon, and he felt disappointed when she ended the kiss.

After about what felt like an hour worth of silence, he finally decided to break the silence.

* * *

><p>Oh god. Nick was awake. Jess froze on the spot, her muscles not working the way her brain was commanding them to.<p>

She simply remained over him, her knees and lower legs beginning to hurt from being stuck in such an uncomfortable position.

"Hey, Jes-"

"Oh, hi Nick." She quickly tried to retreat back to where she had been on the couch, but she felt him grab her arm.

"Why did you just-"

"I didn't do anything to you while you were sleeping. The only reason I was on top of you was because I.." She quickly spat out the first thing that came off of her head. "Had to pop a zit on your face."

Although it was dark, Jess could tell Nick was face palming. "Jess. I haven't had any zits in a long time."

"Well, there was one there, on your nose, and another by your mouth, and I love popping zits, because it's so much fun, and..." Jess continued to ramble on, trying to cover up everything. Because Nick let go of her arm, she crawled back to her corner of the couch.

Nick rolled his eyes, although he was actually rather amused by Jess's quirkiness. He couldn't help himself, so he crawled over, and then pressed his lips to Jess's, stopping her ramble about popping zits.

This kiss was much longer, and after what felt like an hour, they pulled apart, Nick taking her in his arms.

Although Nick had this incredible urge to have sex with Jess, he restrained himself, not sure if she wanted to, plus the fact that Winston and Schmidt were sleeping nearby. The last thing Nick wanted was to be caught by Schmidt and Winston having sex with Jess. So instead, he just held her, which was of course, fine by him.

The next morning, Schmidt was awoken by Winston, who opened his door and woke him up from a great dream.

"Did you really have to just wake me up? I was having this dream when Cece let me touch her amazing cle-"

"Man, you need to come look at this."There was a faint smile on Winston's face as he said this, and although Schmidt wanted to go back to sleep in an attempt to experience that wonderful dream with Cece again, he got up and followed Winston to the main room. It took Schmidt awhile to realize what Winston wanted him to see, and when he saw, he was disappointed.

"What the? Nick, Jess, why are you two wearing clothes?"

Nick awoke, rubbing his eyes, and then saw Winston smiling at him, and Schmidt ranting about wasted opportunities for sex.

Oh crap.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! So I am continuing this story, because I came up with what should happen next, and I pretty much have the story all mapped out, it's going to end up being either 4 or 5 chapters long, total. :3 So, here's chapter 2.**

"Hey, Nick. Since you and Jess aren't talking, _I_ have came up with an awesome plan."

Nick was sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee and staring at the refrigerator, having just finished his breakfast. He ignored Schmidt, who had just walked in with a ever so fucking annoying smirk. He already knew what Schmidt was going to bring up.

"You know," Schmidt declared, "I am perfectly fine if you and Jess have sex in here, as long as you keep it down and do it in your room. I don't think Winston would mind either. Oh, and as long as you let me watch, I'm cool with it, since I sort of want to see your pe-"

Nick didn't even look at Schmidt or change his grumpy expression as he barked, "Jar."

"Oh c'mon-"

Nick sent a dark glare at Schmidt, who sighed, and then went to go put a buck in the Douche Bag Jar. He continued to drink his coffee, a scowl on his face. Chugging down the last few sips of it, he stormed off, not wanting to spend another second stuck with Schmidt.

It had been this way ever since Winston and Schmidt had caught him sleeping on the couch holding Jess in his arms a few days ago. Winston had been cool about it for the most part, only bringing it up a couple of times, but Schmidt seemed to take great joy in pissing Nick off by opening his loud mouth and mentioning over and over and over how Jess and Nick could have had sex and how boring it was that they slept with their clothes on.

Then again, it was to be expected of Schmidt. Hopefully, Winston would do something so that way Schmidt would stop pissing him off already.

Nick headed to his room, to avoid Schmidt. Unfortunately for him, he just happened to see Jess coming out of her room as he headed down the hall towards his room. He glanced over at her, and tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't come up with anything. She met his gaze, and blushed, looking away. He found that his face was reddening as well, so he quickly looked away as he ducked into his room.

Things between Jess and him had gotten quite awkward. It didn't help that Jess couldn't explain why she had kissed him, when they had tried to talk about it the evening after it happened. She simply just rambled in her quirky Jess-ish way, leaving him to facepalm and try to steer the topic back on track. When he asked her about it yet again, she ran away from him, leaving him even more confused than he was before.

He suspected that her feelings were still jumbled, and he could understand why, since she hadn't been quite over Paul when it happened.

Unfortunately, she was aware of his crush on her, thanks to the fact stupidity had taken him over and made him reach out and kiss her, showing that he was indeed awake during the kiss she had given him. Bad idea; now that he thought about it, he should've just pretended to be still sleeping. He shouldn't have let her know he was awake.

Now, she wasn't talking to him, and he wasn't talking to her, and things were pretty damn complicated. Even Schmidt and Winston were affected by the awkwardness between Jess and him. Two days ago, when the three of them had been sitting on the couch, watching some lame god awful movie, Jess had come out of her room to join them, and instead of plopping down next to him, like she usually did, she simply sat down next to Winston, avoiding his gaze. For the rest of the movie, he suffered through the awkwardness, trying his best not to look at Winston and Schmidt, who kept exchanging confused glances.

Of course, being his pals, they had eventually confronted him about it, asking him what was up. All he could do was shrug, because he really didn't know.

Still, each time Nick thought about what happened, he couldn't help but think about how fucking amazing her lips had felt against his.

Either way, he needed to get to work. He left his room, and then headed out of the apartment, ignoring Winston, Schmidt, and Jess sitting in the kitchen as he left.

* * *

><p>After yet another boring day of work, Nick sat with a bottle of beer, as he watched football with Winston and Schmidt, who was of course, still blabbing on about Jess and him. Luckily, Winston was also starting to get annoyed by Schmidt's persistentness, so he ended up telling Schmidt to shut up, and the two were now arguing. For once, he didn't care at all that they were arguing, since Schmidt was leaving him alone.<p>

It was at that moment that Cece walked in.

Schmidt and Winston at once stopped arguing, and Schmidt winked at Cece. "Hey there, Cece."

Cece plopped down on the couch, ignoring Schmidt as she asked, "Where's Jess? She's normally hanging out in here with you guys."

Before Schmidt could let anything escape from his mouth that would cause Cece to come after him, Nick quickly tried to explain, "Well-"

Too late, because Schmidt slapped a hand over his mouth before declaring out,

"Probably in her room avoiding Nick, since Winston and I caught Nick and her sleeping together, and ever since they've been-"

"Schmidt! Shut it!" Nick glared at Schmidt, irritated. Oh god. He prayed Cece had somehow not heard, remembering exactly what she had said the first time she had come over.

Unfortunately, not.

Cece was staring right at him, this strange mix of a smirk and a glare on her face.

Oh god.

"I'm going to bed now. Good night." Nick briskly walked away, not wanting to stay on the couch any longer. He headed into his room, and shut the door behind him, before collapsing onto his bed.

How did things end up this way?

* * *

><p>Jess was laying facedown on her bed, hand clutching her phone in her right hand. The phone displayed a text she had received from Paul two days ago, apologizing and asking her if she wanted to meet up on New Year's Eve, aka tomorrow.<p>

She had no idea what was going on with her, and she was trying to figure out whether she still loved Paul or not. If it wasn't for what had happened with Nick, she would've already sent a message to Paul, telling him that she definitely wanted to meet up with him.

It was all her fault. She shouldn't have done what she did to Nick. Not only had she made things super duper complicated, she also made it that she no longer had anybody to consult for advice, since Nick would've normally been that person, and obviously, she couldn't consult him for advice on what to do since.

She could ask Cece, Schmidt, or Winston, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them, since she would have to tell them what had led up her sleeping in his arms on the couch.

Okay, maybe she could talk to Cece, but-

At that moment, Cece came into her room, and sat down on her bed.

"Jess. What's wrong?"

"Mmmph." Jess didn't know what to say, so she just continued laying facedown.

Cece stared at her for a moment, before tickling Jess. Jess began to laugh, and then ended up rolling over.

"S-stop!" Jess continued to laugh, until Cece finally stopped. Jess got up into a sitting position, sitting next to Cece.

"So, what's up with you and Nick?"

Jess sighed. "Well.. It's like super duper hard to explain."

"Schmidt mentioned something about seeing you sleeping in his arms on the couch."

Jess blushed a bit, remembering how warm Nick's chest had been, and how she had loved laying there, in his arms, listening to his heartbeat.

"Well, I sort of just fell asleep after crying my head off about what happened with Paul while Nick was comforting me and I guess he fell asleep on the couch next to me, so I woke up and then I freaked out because I realized Nick's feet were next to me, and thus Nick was next to me, so I-"

"Slow down!"

"Sorry, so anyway, um, I couldn't help myself so I crawled over to him and touched his nose by accident, since I couldn't see his face-"

Cece burst into laughter, and Jess couldn't help but laugh too before continuing on.

"So then I touched his jawbone, and then I had to run a finger across his lips, which made me want to kiss him, so I did, and then he woke up, and then he kissed me, which probably meant he was awake the entire time I did what I did, and.."

Jess blushed, looking down at her hands. Cece reached behind Jess to grab something- Oh god, her cell phone. Cece couldn't see the message from Paul, period. She quickly tried to reach for it, but it was too late. Cece had it in her hand, and managed to read the text. Jess took the phone out of Cece's hand, quickly shoving it into her pajama pocket.

"Lemme guess. You're still sort of in love with Paul, and then you're trying to figure out how you really feel about Nick."

"Well... Yeah."

Cece glanced over at Jess, and then simply said,

"I'm thinking you love Nick more than you do Paul. Am I right?"

Jess didn't say anything.

"I guess that's a yes." Cece gave her friend a quick hug before getting up and leaving the room, on her way to go see the other person involved in this.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately, Nick wasn't alone for long.<p>

Cece strolled into the room casually, not knocking or even bothering to give him any heads up on the fact that she was coming in. She made herself at home, plopping down onto his bed beside him.

"So," She said, looking at him, "Tell me what happened."

"Could you please just leave? I don't-"

She glared at him. "Remember what I said the first time I came in here? 'If any of you hurt Jess, I'll come and kill you?'"

This was the last thing Nick wanted to deal with, since he was tired from work and tired of hearing about him and Jess.

"Look, she was the one who started it! She was the one who kissed me because she thought I was asleep, since she couldn't tell since it was pitch black! Okay, I'll admit that I did kiss her after I admitted I was awake and that I was the one who held her and fell asleep, but I didn't mean to hurt her at all!" Only after he finished, he realized just what he had just said, and unfortunately, Schmidt and Winston just happened to have been spying on Cece and him.

Shit.

Having been spotted, they entered the room, Schmidt with this irritating big grin on his face, while Winston had an equally huge smile on his face (Minus the jerkiness behind it) as he followed Schmidt in. Schmidt was about to open his mouth and say something, when Cece began to speak.

"So? Don't you realize you hurt her by not talking or doing anything to her afterwards?"

"I tried to ask her about it, but she rambled something quirky and then ran off."

"Man, could you please just try to repair your relationship with Jess?" Winston said, cutting in to the conversation between Cece and Nick. "Schmidt and I don't particularly enjoy the awkward silence between you two, either." Winston looked at Nick, who was avoiding his gaze, and instead staring off into space.

Schmidt nodded in agreement before adding, "Yeah, and I'd never thought I'd ever say this, but I kinda miss Jess's weirdness."

"Yeah. I totally agree with the two boys here. A depressed Jess makes everything depressing. Trust me, I know." Cece looked at Nick, face serious. "You need to fix things with Jess ASAP. Got it? Otherwise, she'll go back to violin boy, and I'll let you know that he wants her back. If you don't do anything like a wimpy dog, then it'll be too late-" She stopped momentarily to jab a finger into his chest, before continuing, "for her and you to happen. I know you don't want that, do you?"

Nick didn't say anything, he just frowned down at his lap, unable to answer anything back to Cece. Irritated, she reached over and then shook his shoulders. More firmly, Cece snapped, "Do you?"

"Okay, okay! Stop shaking my shoulders already! Now, can you guys just leave already?"

"Sure thing." Cece walked out of the room, Schmidt tailing behind her, and Winston following shortly behind him. Winston turned around and waved to Nick before shutting the door behind him, leaving Nick alone.

As they headed back out to the TV room, Cece stopped, spotting Jess, laying on the couch, watching _Dirty Dancing_while tears ran down her face. Although she wanted to go over and comfort her best friend, Cece resisted the urge, a plan beginning to formulate in her mind. She pushed past Winston and Schmidt, who glanced at her, confused.

Cece mouthed to them, _Wait behind the island counter in the kitchen, _and then she headed back into Nick's room. Just as poor Nick thought he was finally going to get some time alone to think, he was yet again interrupted by Cece. Nick spun around, and glared at Cece.

"What do you want now?"

"I want you to go out there to the couch and sit with Jess and comfort her. It's the perfect opportunity for you to fix things with her and to make you and her happen. I just wanted to let you know. Bye." Cece shut the door, and then ran over to join Schmidt and Winston behind the counter in the kitchen. They still looked confused, but Cece whispered to them, "Just wait a moment."

Sure enough, they heard the sound of a door opening, obviously the door to Nick's room.

The three of them smiled at each other, excited.

**Hehehe, ending it here right before yet another cheesy scene. :D As always, read and review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everybody! Here's the third chapter, which is slightly shorter than the last chapter, but just as awesome. Expect a little bit of SchmidtxCece in this one, but it's extremely light and nothing huge, so don't let that stop you from reading this if you don't like that pairing. Without further ado..**

After exiting Nick's room and closing the door behind her, Cece quickly and quietly ran over to the kitchen, where she joined a very confused looking Schmidt and Winston. She sat next to Schmidt, making sure she had a good view of the couch from where she was. Naturally, Schmidt being Schmidt, opened his mouth and said a little too loudly, "Hey, why'd you make us hide behi-"

Cece quickly shushed Schmidt. "You'll see." Schmidt was about to say something back in response, but Cece shushed him, and then gave him a good "Don't mess with me" glare. Getting the message, Schmidt clamped his mouth shut. For a moment, it was silent, except the hum of the fridge, but then Winston broke the silence.

"Oh, is N-"

Cece shushed him too, and then whispered, "Yes, why el- Oh, there _he_ is."

Sure enough, all three of them heard the rather audible noise of a door opening, and all three of them smiled at each other. "Hey, they could actually do IT tonight," Schmidt whispered, grinning. He then began to stand up. "Hey N-" Winston grabbed them and pushed him against the ground, causing Schmidt to grumble in protest. Cece rolled her eyes. She would have to take action.

"Look, if I hold your hand, will you shut up?"

At once, Schmidt got up, slipped his hand into Cece's right hand, and then shut up. Winston looked a little jealous, but gave Cece a thumbs up, and mouthed thank you. Cece ignored him, too busy focusing on Nick, who had just entered the TV room. The TV was still busy playing _Dirty Dancing,_ and the light of the TV was all they had to be able to see what was going on. They watched as Nick sat down on the couch near where Jess was laying.

"The fuck?"

The three of them listened silently, straining to hear what Nick was saying, as he was whispering the words very softly. They waited impatiently to see what happened next.

"She's sleeping..."

Schmidt, forgetting the promise, began to try to get up again, "Don-" Cece let go of his hand, causing Schmidt to make a sad (yet somehow actually kinda cute) face. He plopped back down immediately, and then Cece put her hand back in his, just in time to see what Nick did next.

"God, Jess, I hate the silence between us right now. You're not acting Jess-like at all. Hell, sometimes I'm ashamed to know you, but I.. I hope you never change." It looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn't, instead making this sort of adorable yet unusual expression, one Cece had rarely ever seen on Nick all the times she had seen him. It was certainly not his usual "turtle face", as Jess called it.

Schmidt, seeing the look on Nick's face, began to laugh, forcing Cece to have to let go of his hand, and Winston to have to clamp his hand over Schmidt's mouth. Cece was sure the guy was gonna piss himself of laughter. Then again, she realized she had this gigantic smile on her face, and so did Winston, who also looked about to laugh. Unfortunately, Winston lost his balance and accidentally knocked Schmidt over, the two of them barely managing to break their falls. The two of them quickly got back up, and Schmidt whispered, "Oops."

The damage had been done. Nick looked over in their general direction, and they could see him roll his eyes momentarily before he looked back at the still sleeping Jess.

Nick reached over, and gently planted a kiss on Jess's forehead, and then on his way back up, he gently wiped a tear off of her face. When he was standing up, he hesitated, as if he was afraid she would wake up. Somehow, Jess didn't. Nick then walked over, grabbed a blanket, and then put it over Jess. He grabbed the TV remote, and shut the TV off, and then they heard him walk off, back to his room.

"Aww, wasn't that cute." Schmidt grinned. "But he had another opportunity for sex! I could have seen his p-"

"Again, why do you want to see it?"

"Well, what if..."

Rolling her eyes, Cece let go of Schmidt's hand, whispered "Good night," into his ear, and then she left the apartment, still smiling from the adorableness that was Nick and Jess.

* * *

><p>Nick collapsed onto his bed, feeling embarrassed beyond hell.<p>

God, did Cece, Schmidt, and Winston have to spy on him like that? He swore that the only thing he would be able to hear for the next five hours would be the noise of their demonic, childlike giggles.

He blushed a bit, remembering just how cute Jess's face was when she was sleeping. It was way cuter than Caroline's face, or any other women's face he had ever seen sleeping for that matter.

Anyway, away from the thought of Jess's sleeping face. The problem between them still wasn't solved, and there was no way she would be able to remember or ever know (Unless Schmidt, Winston or Cece said anything) about what he had whispered to her. He would need to take action tomorrow, mainly because he had no desire to carry on their agreement to the new year, because it would suck. And besides, he wanted to be able to kiss her when the clock struck midnight, because he liked her that much.

Once again, he felt embarrassment crawl up his neck, and he put his head in his pillow, cursing himself.

* * *

><p>"NICK! WAKE UP!"<p>

Nick quickly got out of his sheets, only to see Schmidt jumping up and down excitedly. Rubbing his eyes and muttering profanities under his breath, Nick asked, "What, Schmidt?"

Schmidt smiled, and then yelled, "GUESS WHAT IT DID LAST NIGHT?"

Nick rolled his eyes, knowing fully well what this behavior meant. Anyway, he played along, just like he did every time Schmidt acted like this, to avoid being beat up. "Okay, Schmidt, what did it do?"

"There's snow! We're gonna party! Wooo!" Schmidt ran out of the room, probably on his way to go wake poor Winston up. Frowning, Nick took out his phone, and checked the time. It was 7:00 AM, on a Saturday.

"Really?" He muttered, getting out of bed. Nick knew he could just go back to sleep, but if he did, then Schmidt would probably come and then drag him out. So instead, he hastily got dressed, and then headed out of his room.

* * *

><p>"Remind me how old you are again?"<p>

Winston was once again busy trying to get Schmidt to turn the car around, giving Schmidt his best "Really?" expression, staring at Schmidt's back. Nick was sure that if Winston could fire lasers from his eyes, they would go straight through Schmidt. He sighed, feeling the same way as Winston.

All of them were hastily packed into Schmidt's car, having been bribed, threatened and forced into going with Schmidt to the park to have a blast in the snow. Whenever Schmidt saw snow, he began to act like a hyperactive child. It wasn't even funny.

The silver lining of this all was the fact that Nick was sitting in the front, thus thwarting any awkward moments in the car between Jess and him. He wasn't sure he could've lasted sitting in the backseat with Jess, only about a foot and a half apart.

"Hey! Don't hate on snow!" Schmidt spun around, to stare in shock at Winston. "Come on! Admit it, you love it too!" Winston sighed, shook his head, and then went back to staring at the window. Jess was still unusually quiet, and each time Nick would glance over at her, she would just be staring ahead, clearly lost in thought.

He really missed the usual Jess.

Anyway, Schmidt pulled into the park, which was pretty empty for the most apart, albeit a few kids already running around. Everybody proceeded to get out of the car, Schmidt looking just oh so excited.

"Okay, what are we going to do?" Winston stared at Schmidt, still clearly unhappy that he didn't get to sleep in until noon, like he usually did. Nick himself wasn't happy, and he added on, "Schmidt, for the love of god, let's just go ho-"

He never got to finish, since Schmidt threw a snowball right at his face. Nick simply just glared at him, while Schmidt did some weird victory dance thing while laughing at him. Not wanting to be outdone, Nick swooped down, scooped up some snow, rapidly formed it into a ball and then belted Schmidt with the snowball, smirking at him. Schmidt stopped, and then yelled, "Oh, it is _so_ on," before returning fire to Nick.

It didn't take long for Winston and Jess to end up getting hit by stray snow balls and pulled into the fight, and as Nick ran around the field, dodging and throwing snowballs, he couldn't help but notice that Jess was smiling and laughing, and even singing, while huffing and puffing her way across the field.

"Who's that.. Girl.. Playing in the snowwwww! It's.. Jess!"

Nick smiled, and never thought the day would come he would be so happy to see Jess singing. In his moment of distraction, however, Schmidt had hit him in the crotch with a snowball. At once, Nick fell to the ground, yelling out profanities.

"God damn you, Schmidt! Ugh! What the hell was that for?"

Schmidt ignored him, instead jumping up and down and looking as if he'd won the lottery. "He's got a penis! Winston, he has one!" Winston stopped forming the snowball in his hands, to stop and stare at Schmidt as if he was a mad man. "You're bringing this up again?"

"Of course! I mean, last night, while laying in bed, it occurred to me that Nick might not even have a penis! But since he's crawling in pain, he must have one! Phew." Schmidt wiped imaginary sweat off of his forehead, and then he got slugged in the forehead by a snowball thrown by Winston.

"Ow! What was that for? Winston, man, you should be thanking me!" Schmidt then ducked down, grabbed some snow, formed a snowball, and hurled it at Winston, beginning a war between the two. While that was happening, Jess walked up to Nick, extending her hand out towards him to help him up. He took it.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, eyes worried, and slightly amused. She let go of his hand once he was up. She then started laughing, alarming him. He turned around, to see he had made a very odd looking snow angel of himself in the snow. He blushed slightly, but eventually began to laugh along. Finally he managed to nod, and answer "Yeah.. I'm fine."

"That's" She broke out into song, "goooooood! Come on, let's go knock Schmidt off his arms!"

Nick didn't even stop to correct her by telling her it was legs, not arms, instead just nodding, grinning, and agreeing, "Sounds good," before running after her to rejoin the fight.

For now, he would let himself forget about what had happened between them during the past few days.

He wasn't going to let it spoil the good times.

**Was that awesome? :3 I kind of added in the whole Schmidt's love for snow thing, as I figured he'd love having an excuse to smash people in the balls with snowballs and stuff. As always, reviews are appreciated! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally figured out what to write for this! Yay! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, that's what happens when you get writer's block xP Anyway, enjoy the next chapter! :D**

After a rather cold, yet exhilarating afternoon spent snowball fighting, everybody was now packed into Schmidt's car, heading back to the loft with coffees in hand after having gone through the Starbucks drive thru. Jess held her cup of mocha, allowing it to warm her hands, which were frozen cold despite the fact she had been wearing gloves the entire time.

She was in a super duper happy mood today, obviously because she and Nick were finally back on speaking terms. She wasn't used to not talking to him, considering they were like best friends. After she had helped him get up, the two of them had had an awesome time pelting Winston and Schmidt with snowballs, while at the same time conversing with each other. They continued to talk even after they were back in the car, Nick in the front and Jess in the back. The only reason they weren't talking at the moment was because of the fact Schmidt was busy arguing with Nick over money, yet again.

Jess shut her eyes, tuning out everything except for the warmth of the cup in her hands. She tried to go through a to do list in her head, as she was a teacher and most teachers had mental to do lists, even for things not school related.

So, once she got back to the loft, she needed to somehow convince Schmidt and Winston to let her into their rooms so she could actually dust and vacuum them (Each time she tried to get them to clean, they always just nodded and went back to drinking beer while watching TV), cook an awesome lunch for everybody, finish grading papers, call Cece…

That was about it.

Or was it? There was one more thing. She took her phone out of her pocket using her right hand, the other hand holding her drink. She opened to Paul's text, and hesitated. Jess still hadn't answered him, and she knew she had to make her decision ASAP.

To be honest, she couldn't tell whether she loved Paul or not still. A feeling in her chest told her she did. So why shouldn't she hang out with him tonight? Maybe watch Lord of The Rings, and then have some nerdy sex. It would be great.

She felt the fingers of her right begin to tap a reply to Paul, but she stopped, remembering Nick.

What she had done with him that night was just her trying to see if she liked him or not, because if she did, she would feel something. But maybe it would be best if she didn't start anything with Nick. After all, he was her roommate, and things would get super duper awkward if him and her happened. Winston and Schmidt seemed to approve, but would they really enjoy seeing them two together all the time?

Plus, she was sure he could find someone better than her. And anyway, it was better to just be friends with him, after all. Otherwise, they'd just keep looking at each other, and blushing. Not speaking, not interacting. That was horrible.

So, Jess made her decision. She sent the text, and shoved her phone back in her pocket.

* * *

><p>"Well, we're heading out to some kickass party. See you two later.. Have fun!" Schmidt smirked at Nick as he disappeared behind the door, Winston and Cece following after them. Nick would've gone with them, but he felt no desire to go to a New Year's Eve party. What would be the point? The girl he loved was living under the same roof as him, so there was no point of going out to a New Year's Eve party besides to just drink and dance, since he had no urge to hook up with anybody besides Jess. Anyway, she hadn't wanted to go, choosing to stay home, so Nick decided it would be best to stay home too. Since they would be home alone for a while, maybe, just maybe..<p>

His face turned red, and he quickly shook off any thoughts of sex.

Nick sat on the couch, watching TV, while Jess was in her room, probably grading papers or something. After a couple of moments, he decided to just go see what she was doing, but just as he rose from the sofa, she came out of her room, dressed as if ready to go out somewhere. He watched as she walked to the door.

"Jess, where are you going?"

Jess flinched, and froze, not turning to face him as she said, "I... I'm going out to hang out with Paul, you know? He's here, and ready to pick me up. We're gonna try to hook back up, and it'll b-"

Nick's heart sank in his chest. "But why are you going back to Paul? I thought you broke off things with him." Actually, he had kinda helped to break things off between the two. But that was because he wanted stupid violin boy to go back to whatever hole he came from, since Jess was his.

But, maybe not.

"I.. I did.. But I still wanna go.." Jess took her hand off the door, and finally turned to face him. However, she did not make eye contact with him, instead shifting her eyes to the ground.

"Yeah, but, why are you going if you still want to stay broken up with him?" This really wasn't what Nick wanted to ask, he really wanted to ask, _What about me?, _but refrained from doing so.

"Look," Jess snapped, "I just want to hang out with him, and maybe have sex with him, okay? That's all! I want-"

"Jess, all you're going to do is hurt yourself! Why-"

"It doesn't matter!"

Silence. She was finally looking him in the eyes now, and he looked at her eyes, noticing a mix of anger and guilt in them. He knew he couldn't hold back this vital question any longer.

"Jess, why did you kiss me the other night?"

* * *

><p>"Well.. I don't know... It was just something I decided to do, you know?"<p>

Jess herself knew that was the most terrible horrible sucky answer ever. It was, because the next moment, Nick was ticked and making this scary face, one that was even more angry than his turtle face. She flinched a bit, as he began to yell at her.

"So you just decided to kiss me for no reason? Just for the heck of it?" His eyes brimmed with powerful emotion, and Jess knew she had made a fatal mistake. She was like one of those crazy girls from those horror movies, the ones who knew something was in the basement, but ended up running down there anyway only to get killed.

Although she wanted to give in, something made her yell back. But before she could, she got slapped by Nick.

* * *

><p>Crap. Crap. Crap.<p>

He did not just do that to Jess. He literally hated himself at that moment. His hand had literally just moved on his own, because he was just so, well... Ugh. He expected her to go running out the door, just like in one of those movies, but she didn't. She instead just put a hand to her right cheek before continuing,

"I didn't! It's because.. Well.." She hesitated for a few moments, looking down before looking up again. "I don't know!"

"See? So you did!"

"Well, I didn't know what else to do! What was I supposed to say?"

Nick stiffened, unable to answer for a few moments (Just how was he supposed to answer this without feeling embarrassed beyond hell?), but eventually managed to push out,

"Because I love you, okay, Jess? There, I said it! And I'm sorry I slapped you in the face..." He trailed off, allowing his gaze to shift to the ground. His face was a bright red, and he was clearly embarrassed.

Jess's face turned red, and it was clear that her emotions were screwed up and that this was all way too much for her. Her eyes beginning to brim with tears, she went running out the door.

Nick almost chased after her, but stopped, not wanting to have to continue this conversation while Paul was around. He instead cursed and groaned as he collapsed to the floor, rolling to position himself facedown. He soon decided the floor would be his new home for the next few hours.

* * *

><p>Jess ran out of the loft, slamming the door behind her, eyes blurring her vision. For a moment, all she could do was cry, right hand holding her cheek, which was no longer throbbing (He hadn't hit her that hard), but still hurt her emotionally. It was strange how it did. She didn't even bother waiting for the elevator, instead opening the door to the stairs and running down every single flight.<p>

Eventually, she was outside, and she could see Paul's car in the parking lot. He was looking down, presumably at his phone, so she had no need to worry about him seeing her run off. There was no way she could hang out with him now. She quickly darted down the sidewalk, heading to who knows where.

She just needed to get away, get away from it all.

**Ohoho, dramatic chapter. Anyway, as always, read and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, finally at the final chapter *cheers*. Yay :D**

**Anyway, some of you seemed really confused about why Nick slapped Jess. Yes, I know, a guy hurt a girl, but it wasn't like he brutally beat her with a baseball bat or something like that. I stated in the last chapter he didn't really hit her hard. The main reason he hit her was because it was that or she wouldn't listen to him, since she was being an idiot who was about to go on a date with Paul despite the fact she doesn't want to really be with him, and because she was still refusing to just admit she likes him. Okay, Nick could've yelled at her, but she would've just run out the door. He could've kissed her to shock her, but that would've just gotten him attacked, and plus, since he's mad at her, obviously, he wouldn't. He could've shaken her shoulders, but then she'd just be rammed into the wall considering she was standing right in front of the door.**

**Either way, beginning the chapter now, doot doot doot :3**

Nick laid on the floor, wanting to kill himself. He seriously wished he could just take it all back. He also sort of wish he could've found a better way to shock Jess into listening to him than hitting her. Then again, at least he hadn't hit her that hard. But he was still a big idiot. He seriously fucked things up this time.

He continued to batter himself with negative thoughts, when suddenly he heard Jess's ringtone go off. It was, for some reason, the sound of a chicken clucking. He rolled his eyes, and then wondered who it was, calling Jess on New Year's Eve. Maybe it was Schmidt, Cece or Winston. Actually, scratch that. They wouldn't call Jess, they'd probably call him if they had to call, which they probably didn't. Maybe it was just a coworker wishing her Happy New Year's or something. He decided on that, and simply stayed put on the floor.

But the ringtone went off again.

Finally, annoyed, he decided to go see who it was. He got up, and walked into Jess's room, where he could hear the ringtone coming from. It didn't take him long to spot the phone, sitting on her bed. He peered over at it, looking to see who the call was coming from. His blood ran cold when he saw the name.

Paul.

Nick quickly grabbed the phone, and answered the call. "Hello?"

Paul's panicky voice which for some reason sounded more panicky than usual answered, "Hello? Jess?"

"No, it's Nick here. Isn't she with you?"

"No, is she up i-"

"No, she left like ten m..." Nick stopped short, realizing that Jess had no doubt run off somewhere, to heaven knows where. Oh god. She could be anywhere right now.

_Shit._

He could hear Paul saying something, but he couldn't hear, because he had already hung up the phone and was running out the door.

* * *

><p>Jess had no idea where she was. She had eventually stopped running because she had gotten tired, as she was nowhere near fit, plus the fact she had been crying the entire time she was running (She still was), and she had also had the misfortune to slip on a patch of ice on a sidewalk, causing her knee to get this gash in it that was now sending blood to drip down her knee.<p>

It was getting painful to walk, her lungs hurting and her knees stinging as if a thousand bees had suddenly put their little stingers into it. It didn't exactly help that she was beginning to get cold, too, thanks to the fact it was nighttime, plus the fact that it was snowing again didn't particularly help either.

Eventually, she just laid down at some random sidewalk near some office building, deciding she was far away enough now that nobody would find her.

"Well, here I am. This is awesome," She muttered to no one in particular, except maybe herself. Talking to herself was entertaining.

Just because she had nothing better to do, she decided to continue talking to herself.

"Hey Jess, you really messed things up this time, didn't you?"

She quickly changed character to accommodate for the fact she had no one to reply to her.

"Yes, yes I did. I've ruined all chances of ever becoming friends with Paul again, because I just stood him up. It's too bad, he's a nice guy. And I've also ruined my friendship with Nick, because I'm such an idiot..."

She stopped talking to herself so she could just shut her eyes, and cry, cry, and cry some more.

Jess mentally told herself to never ever look down and laugh at those girls who got themselves killed in those horror movies, because she was just like them. Minus the part about death, of course.

* * *

><p>Nick basically went all over the city, driving around, trying to find Jess. It was really difficult, mainly because he had no idea where she could've went. He'd been driving for who knows how long. Eventually, it got dark out, and he found himself starting to worry more and more. Hell, she could be anywhere. He knew it was partly his fault, he should've found some other better method to make her listen to him instead of slapping her, even if it wasn't that hard. When he found her, he reminded himself to apologize like mad.<p>

But even if she forgave him (Which she hopefully did, otherwise he'd spent the rest of his life acting even more grumpy than he already acted), he would have to ultimately leave things up to her. He'd already confessed, there wasn't much else he could do. If she didn't want him, that would suck, but as long as she ended up happy, he'd be sorta fine.

After about the 50th loop he had made around the area, he finally just went back to the loft, where he parked his car and went to go search on foot. As he soon found, it wasn't exactly that good of an idea. Not only was it slippery due to the snow and ice, but also freezing. Even though part of him wanted to get back in the car, he decided to just keep going, as he knew he had to hurry. Otherwise, Jess would freeze to death, and he'd have to die with the guilt of partly having caused her to run off the way she did.

That thought made him run faster.

* * *

><p>Jess was still laying where she was, only now laying with her arms wrapped around herself, shivering thanks to the cold. She was still crying, but she had actually stopped for a while. The only reason she started crying again was because she had a feeling she was going to be forever alone. Whenever it came to romance, she was a failure. She had completely misunderstood poor Eduardo (AN: I hope that was that one Spanish kid's name, the one from the flashback in Cece Crashes, if not, then eh) when he had tried to give her that heart, dated a jerk who ended up cheating on her all because she thought he had beautiful hair, and she had also messed things up with Paul by not talking to him before Nick did. On that note, she had been cruel enough to lead poor Nick on, and then promptly proceeded to fuck things up with him. If there was an award for Number One Failure at Romance, she would get it for sure.

She continued to lay there, unable to move. The only sound she could hear was the sound of cars.

She shut her eyes, wondering if this was how things were going to end.

That was when she heard footsteps, and her name being called.

"Jess! Where are you?"

_Nick._

She froze, but then called, "I'm right here!"

Sure enough, he ran right by her, but then saw her and quickly ran over to her. His face was red, and he looked exhausted.

"Jess.. What the f..." He stopped for a few moments to catch his breath, leaning over and taking deep breaths of oxygen. "What the fuck were you thinking? I was worried, I spent three hours searching for you. I drove around the area like 50 times in a row, and then finally decided to come find you on foot. Are you okay?" He extended his hand to her, and she took it, grateful. He let go when she got up, and she felt a little disappointed that he let go so quickly. Seeing her shivering, Nick took off his hoodie, and then gave it to her.

"Here, take that. Come on, let's go home."

* * *

><p>The walk home was extremely silent, and slightly awkward. The only piece of conversation between them went like this:<p>

"Look, I'm sorry I hit you, Jess."

"That's okay."

Either way, they were now back in the loft, and Jess was laying on her bed, in her room, now in her pajamas and warmed up after having taken a nice, hot shower. She was busy thinking, and it didn't take her long to realize that she did love Nick back. Now that she really thought about it, she felt like an idiot. Of course she loved her turtle face making roommate. Why else would she kiss him, otherwise? And on that note, why else would she blush each time she saw him? And why else would she feel disappointed he didn't hold her hand longer?

Jess knew she needed to do something. She had to at least try to get Nick, even though he might not want to be with her anymore, at least romantically. She had to be like Gollum, she had to get him no matter what... Well, maybe not Gollum. Gollum was just creepy.

She got up from the bed, and headed over to the couch, where Nick was busy drinking beer, and watching some movie. He turned to look at her when she walked in.

"Hey, Nick, I've been thinking, and, uh... Well, you see.. I'm sorry I've been acting like an idiot, I know it now, why I kissed you. It's like... Well... Because..."

She gulped, and for a moment, was scared she wouldn't be able to say it.

Wait, no. She didn't have to say it. She walked right up to him, leaned down, and then pressed her lips to his, heart pounding for more reasons than one.

And, she waited. Waited to see his reaction, while at the same time, enjoying the taste of his lips. Obviously not literally, because she had to shut her eyes. If she kept them open, that would be weird.

And thank the god of all things amazing, he reacted in a good way. He pulled her down on the couch next to him, and kissed her back.

Eventually, they broke apart, only pulling their faces slightly apart.

"I'm really sorry, too. And I think you already know my answer to that." He gestured, and she knew what he meant, the kiss. He then leaned in and kissed her again.

This kiss was much longer, and much more meaningful. Jess pressed her body against his, taking a deep breath of his smell. She could totally get used to this.

She knew she had made the best decision she could've ever made. After this, she reminded herself to treat Cece to a super duper awesome dinner.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, when Schmidt, Winston, and Cece returned from the awesome New Year's Party they went to, they all snickered, seeing Nick and Jess asleep together on the couch. Unfortunately for poor Schmidt, they were still dressed, mainly because Nick and Jess had decided not to take it too far in one night, and anyway, both of them were exhausted.<p>

"Why! Why are you guys still dressed!" Schmidt stomped his foot on the ground. "Nick, you're my bro! I thought you were better than this!" He began to fake weep, causing Winston and Cece to roll their eyes.

"I think I'm going to go pray for him," Winston remarked, as he headed off to his room.

"Go ahead, I'm just gonna watch this." Cece smirked at Schmidt, eyes full of amusement.

Nick awoke a few moments later, awoken by Schmidt's noisy fake weeping. Since he got up, Jess, who had been sleeping on his chest, also awoke. The two of them sleepily looked at Cece and Schmidt.

"Sorry to interrupt you two. First off, Jess, good job-" Cece gave her best friend a thumbs up, "You owe me for this, and just to help you, I'm going to make this guy leave and then leave you two alone to do what you like. Mmkay?" She turned her gaze to Schmidt. "Schmidt, go to your room." Schmidt instantly followed the command, disappearing off. Cece then turned around, opened the door, and left, leaving Jess and Nick alone again.

"Well." Nick turned his gaze to Jess, who was sitting next to him. He reached in, brushed some stray strands of hair off her face, and then kissed her.

Okay, so it was going to be a bit of a pain making this relationship work with Schmidt being the douchebag he was, but hey, at least the Jar would get filled twenty times quicker than it usually did.

Either way, it didn't matter. As long as he had Jess, things were perfect.

**And, that's the end. Yay, I'm done! PARTY PARTY PARTY. Okay, anyway, that's that. My next project will likely be a oneshot about Winston, since there's like no fics on here about him. It'll be something like "A Day in the Life of Winston Bishop" or something like that. And yeah. :3  
><strong>


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